The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania XL - 6/7 April 2024

Banjo wrote:I'm gutted I missed out on the G1 last year, was in town but couldn't for the life of me work out the Lawson Station machines.

Can always go another year. I may look into the next Wrestle Kingdom if I'm in Japan (am looking for work and might end up there, who knows), and it's definitely better priced than Wrestlemania with the show almost certainly going to be better. I know Wrestlemania is a complete weekend package thing though which adds to the experience, but I'd still rather WK. Maybe a Wrestlemania one day when the roster and booking is a on a strong run, let's see if Bischoff and Heyman turn things around.

Yeah, I booked my G1 tickets in advance because I didn't have a great record of trying to buy them in Japan :lol:

Wrestle Kingdom has now basically become a Wrestlemania weekend type affair in Tokyo now tbh. Loads of companies put on shows around the same time. I'm hoping to get in DDT, Stardom and All Japan as well as anything else that catches my eye. Fight Club Pro were there this year too and I can see more international promotions going over this time with it being such a boom time.

captain red dog wrote:It was baffling. The faces tried to pull a crafty trick, Cedric got absolutely decimated and they lost. Then they tried to stand tall at the end like they had pulled off a big shock and the plan of the century. It made them both look like complete and utter idiots. And yeah, like you said, it was like nobody recognised Cedric anyway!

And that's the final build to a Taker match! It's just astonishing. It felt like a Vince Mcmahon show again. Just absolutely no sense at all.

Has Roman Reigns even appeared on SmackDown in the last few weeks, despite being a SD superstar?

And what has happened to the Women's Tag Titles? I think even the European Championship was relevant longer than this.

Considering all the other wrestling programming that is happening this weekend, Extreme Rules looks like coming off really badly.

Minty14 wrote:
Banjo wrote:I'm gutted I missed out on the G1 last year, was in town but couldn't for the life of me work out the Lawson Station machines.

Can always go another year. I may look into the next Wrestle Kingdom if I'm in Japan (am looking for work and might end up there, who knows), and it's definitely better priced than Wrestlemania with the show almost certainly going to be better. I know Wrestlemania is a complete weekend package thing though which adds to the experience, but I'd still rather WK. Maybe a Wrestlemania one day when the roster and booking is a on a strong run, let's see if Bischoff and Heyman turn things around.

Yeah, I booked my G1 tickets in advance because I didn't have a great record of trying to buy them in Japan

Wrestle Kingdom has now basically become a Wrestlemania weekend type affair in Tokyo now tbh. Loads of companies put on shows around the same time. I'm hoping to get in DDT, Stardom and All Japan as well as anything else that catches my eye. Fight Club Pro were there this year too and I can see more international promotions going over this time with it being such a boom time.

Maaaaan I completely blanked on the other promotions. Christ, how mad a week would you have seeing DDT, NJPW and Stardom shows, plus whatever else ends up happening!

You mentioning this has shot my interest in it through the roof! Maybe not next year though, can aim for the year after which gives me time to catch up with the Japanese scene (barely know anything of the current situation outside of recaps and highlights with NJPW). Out of interest, how has Ospreay developed? I know he's rated highly, and what I saw a few years back showed undeniable athletic capability, but I was far from impressed with his promo and character work. Has he developed that any more? I know NJPW have got big things planned for him, but I'm a total mark who needs killer mic work to sell me on a dude.

KK wrote:
captain red dog wrote:It was baffling. The faces tried to pull a crafty trick, Cedric got absolutely decimated and they lost. Then they tried to stand tall at the end like they had pulled off a big shock and the plan of the century. It made them both look like complete and utter idiots. And yeah, like you said, it was like nobody recognised Cedric anyway!

And that's the final build to a Taker match! It's just astonishing. It felt like a Vince Mcmahon show again. Just absolutely no sense at all.

Has Roman Reigns even appeared on SmackDown in the last few weeks, despite being a SD superstar?

And what has happened to the Women's Tag Titles? I think even the European Championship was relevant longer than this.

Considering all the other wrestling programming that is happening this weekend, Extreme Rules looks like coming off really badly.

Asuka and Kairi were meant to be getting a title shot since they beat the Iiconics in Japan the other week but they seem to have completely dropped that.

Have the women's tag titles even been defended since WrestleMania? They surely must have been but I certainly can't remember anything on a PPV or SmackDown. If I see RAW it's only the extended edited version, and thankfully they tend to remove a lot of the gooseberry fool (leaving...gooseberry fool) so maybe it happened there.

Banjo wrote:
Minty14 wrote:
Banjo wrote:I'm gutted I missed out on the G1 last year, was in town but couldn't for the life of me work out the Lawson Station machines.

Can always go another year. I may look into the next Wrestle Kingdom if I'm in Japan (am looking for work and might end up there, who knows), and it's definitely better priced than Wrestlemania with the show almost certainly going to be better. I know Wrestlemania is a complete weekend package thing though which adds to the experience, but I'd still rather WK. Maybe a Wrestlemania one day when the roster and booking is a on a strong run, let's see if Bischoff and Heyman turn things around.

Yeah, I booked my G1 tickets in advance because I didn't have a great record of trying to buy them in Japan

Wrestle Kingdom has now basically become a Wrestlemania weekend type affair in Tokyo now tbh. Loads of companies put on shows around the same time. I'm hoping to get in DDT, Stardom and All Japan as well as anything else that catches my eye. Fight Club Pro were there this year too and I can see more international promotions going over this time with it being such a boom time.

Maaaaan I completely blanked on the other promotions. Christ, how mad a week would you have seeing DDT, NJPW and Stardom shows, plus whatever else ends up happening!

You mentioning this has shot my interest in it through the roof! Maybe not next year though, can aim for the year after which gives me time to catch up with the Japanese scene (barely know anything of the current situation outside of recaps and highlights with NJPW). Out of interest, how has Ospreay developed? I know he's rated highly, and what I saw a few years back showed undeniable athletic capability, but I was far from impressed with his promo and character work. Has he developed that any more? I know NJPW have got big things planned for him, but I'm a total mark who needs killer mic work to sell me on a dude.

I'd say Ospreay is the best in-ring worker in the world right now, and he's pretty much nailed-on for wrestler of the year with most fans at the moment and could easily seal that with a good G1. He's grown far past the pure athleticism of his in-ring style of a few years ago, and he was in my match of the year so far against Shingo Takagi in the Best of the Super Juniors final. He's a pretty stereo-typical essex boy, so a lot of his promo work is pretty... dumb. However, I will say that most of what he says comes across very real; he talks openly about his issues with mental health and his love and gratitude for New Japan (he's recently moved to Tokyo to dedicate himself to them full time). Ultimately, Japanese wrestling generally values in-ring work and characterisation over western-style "promos", so he's thriving in New Japan. If you want a top-tier promo, check out fellow Englishman Zack Sabre Jrs work in the same company, his post match interviews are great every time;

Or, if you want more traditional fiery promos, in my opinion Juice Robinson is the best babyface promo in the world right now.

If you want any pointers when it comes to the japanese wrestling scene, give me a shout, I'll always be glad to catch you up. Now is a seriously good time to be watching!

That was a shite finish to Raw alright, but don’t they tend to put their main segment at the end of the second hour these days what with the ratings for the third our usually taking a big dip? Also what happened to them changing the look of the third hour?!

I think that third hour initiative, which was supposed to be more ‘RAW’ according to Foley, was dumped after just one episode.

Hopefully this new look/set they apparently have in production at the moment has had a bit more planning behind it.

Just watching the opening bout on RAW and the rules to this mixed elimination tag team are NONSENSE. The women can only fight and eliminate the women, the men can only fight and eliminate the men. So what would have happened had after Zelina got eliminated, Andrade then eliminated Rollins? It'd be Andrade and Becky Lynch left, neither now able to eliminate the other.

KK wrote:I think that third hour initiative, which was supposed to be more ‘RAW’ according to Foley, was dumped after just one episode.

Hopefully this new look/set they apparently have in production at the moment has had a bit more planning behind it.

They'll probably just add more LED boards let's be honest.

Cobb vs Ishii was brilliant.

Stardom put a free match on their YouTube and it's definitely worth watching. STARS vs Oedo Tai for the trios titles.

Just ordered Fight For The Fallen. Expecting good things from this show...if not necessarily the pre show (12:30am, YouTube and FiteTV). Third time lucky for that portion of the night.

Not sure I’ll be able to fit EVOLVE in tomorrow.

Love the way the AEW show looks tonight. Fantastic lighting, and looks nothing like a WWE show.

KK wrote:Love the way the AEW show looks tonight. Fantastic lighting, and looks nothing like a WWE show.

The venue's great, but the hard cam position is kind of weird.

The Buy In was a big improvement, but unfortunately they’ve been plagued by technical issues through FITE and BR (not sure about YouTube). Loss of feed and nonsensical subtitles turned on as standard.

Youtube had the subtitles too, so it must have been on the feed itself.

I remember when WWE Network launched it was plagued by a number of issues as well, so if they can’t get it right with their vast experience, I guess it’s almost to be expected from AEW. These shows are effectively test runs before they debut on TNT.

At least if it completely collapses they’re available on-demand for quite a long time after.

The Dark Order feels like a modern day take on the Dungeon of Doom, but not as stupid onviously.

The Dark Order, the music, Jungle Boy, some dude in a strange mask called Luchasaurus, the entrance music...The WCW 1995 influence is strong, here.

The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania XL - 6/7 April 2024

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